A sustainable future for the European cement and concrete industry – Technology assessment for full decarbonisation of the industry by 2050
Conducted by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETHZ), Zürich, and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), Lausanne and commissioned by the European Climate Foundation, this report investigates the practices and technologies that can be implemented to significantly reduce CO2 emissions from the cement and concrete sector in Europe by 2050.
A key point emerging from the report is that reduction efforts must be supported along the complete value chain and not by a single stakeholder. In this way, the concrete construction sector can reduce up to 80% of these emissions (compared to 1990) without major changes in terms of standards and with moderate investments. Moreover, this approach would be a major step towards a more circular economy in the sector which is estimated to be a key element of a sustainable economy.
The possibility of achieving the objective of the Paris Agreement (temperature rise limited to 1.5°C in the long term) is also emphasised by analysing certain practices beyond current standards or by combining them with carbon capture and storage technologies showing that carbon neutrality is technologically feasible in the cement and concrete sector.
Download the full report.
